<SOME SPOILERS>
"Something Wild" is, in my view, Jonathan Demme's best film. It got mixed reviews, mostly due to the fact that critics didn't appreciate its mix of comedy and drama and the abrupt mood shift, midway through the film, from a light tone to a very dark one. In fact, this shift was entirely intentional and essential to the conception of the film.
In the first half, Lulu/Audrey (Melanie Griffith in what may be her best performance ever) introduces nice-guy yuppie Charlie (Jeff Daniels, also in one of his best roles) to the thrills of forbidden adventure, from hilariously kinky sex in a roadside motel to running out on a restaurant tab and stealing from a cash register. This life seems exciting and thrilling. In the second half, with the appearance of her ex-husband Ray, who has just gotten out of jail (Ray Liotta, much better here than in the psycho-cop role in the mediocre "Unlawful Entry"), we see the dark and violent side of life on the wrong side of social conventions.
One interesting thing about this movie, easy to miss when you see it for the first time, is that many of the comical episodes from the first half are paralleled by "mirror-image" episodes in the second half, only in a dark and dramatic key. For instance, the "abduction" of Charlie by Lulu/Audrey has a parallel in the very real kidnapping of Audrey by Ray in the second half. Lulu's theft of cash from the liquor store, treated as an amusing prank, is parallelled by Ray's violent robbery of a store in the second half. There are other examples of this.
All in all, a brilliant work. Highly recommended.
"Something Wild" is, in my view, Jonathan Demme's best film. It got mixed reviews, mostly due to the fact that critics didn't appreciate its mix of comedy and drama and the abrupt mood shift, midway through the film, from a light tone to a very dark one. In fact, this shift was entirely intentional and essential to the conception of the film.
In the first half, Lulu/Audrey (Melanie Griffith in what may be her best performance ever) introduces nice-guy yuppie Charlie (Jeff Daniels, also in one of his best roles) to the thrills of forbidden adventure, from hilariously kinky sex in a roadside motel to running out on a restaurant tab and stealing from a cash register. This life seems exciting and thrilling. In the second half, with the appearance of her ex-husband Ray, who has just gotten out of jail (Ray Liotta, much better here than in the psycho-cop role in the mediocre "Unlawful Entry"), we see the dark and violent side of life on the wrong side of social conventions.
One interesting thing about this movie, easy to miss when you see it for the first time, is that many of the comical episodes from the first half are paralleled by "mirror-image" episodes in the second half, only in a dark and dramatic key. For instance, the "abduction" of Charlie by Lulu/Audrey has a parallel in the very real kidnapping of Audrey by Ray in the second half. Lulu's theft of cash from the liquor store, treated as an amusing prank, is parallelled by Ray's violent robbery of a store in the second half. There are other examples of this.
All in all, a brilliant work. Highly recommended.